How to achieve this cartoon effect?

[Steps]

I wonder if someone knows what combination of adjustment layers and filters create a effect similar to effect #4 of FXCartoonizer.
The online tool can be used here: http://www.cartoonize.net/FXCartoonizer/

The tool can't be customized and I wish to do something very similar in Affinity Photo fore more control (and no dependency to a new tool).

I'm aware of the following two linked tutorials which are nice starting points but nowhere near the thing I'm looking for.

I attached two samples what it does to my photos and personally I'm pretty excited.

Maybe one tells me that my excitement is not justified and this effect can be achieved pretty simple with some combination of adjument and effect layers.

If so I hope that someone feels motivated to create a tutorial how to get there.

I don't even know if this is really a "cartoon effect" or something else.

Thank you for any guidance.

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The tutorials I have found on the forums regarding this:

 

[Callum]

Hi Steps,

If I'm being honest I think you will struggle to get results better than the ones shown in the example threads you have provided due to the lack of artistic filters in Affinity Photo. This is something we would like to add in the future however.

Thanks

C

[Steps]

@Callum Thanks. I'm looking forward the artistic filters.

Out of curousity and because I read it everywhere: Do artistic filters really involve "AI"? Some tools state that their filters use neural networks to analyze the images content and choose what to do... This is marketing bullshit, isn't it? Is a artistic filter really a smart algorithm that analyses the photo to some extend?

[R C-R]

47 minutes ago, Steps said:

Do artistic filters really involve "AI"?

A few do, most do not. Typically, those that do try to identify objects in the image using what is currently known as "machine learning" (ML for short) rather than "artificial intelligence" (AI for short), possibly because AI implies broad, human-like cognitive capabilities while ML implies the capability only to learn how to do some specific task through training.

How well it works depends on what kind of image objects it has been trained with & how extensive that training is.

[Sara72]

You can get a similar effect by using the Bilateral blur on a colour copy of the image and increasing the Luminosity and reducing the Saturation, i then gave the B/W copy with the line drawing effect (from detect edges and invert) an overlay blend mode:

 

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, summersara said:

You can get a similar effect by using the Bilateral blur on a colour copy of the image and increasing the Luminosity and reducing the Saturation, i then gave the B/W copy with the line drawing effect (from detect edges and invert) an overlay blend mode:

That produces a very pleasing effect, at least on the photo in your example.

Have you given any thought to creating a macro to do this? It seems doable.

[HVDB Photography]

Hi @summersara

Great, thanks for the hint ..

 

[Steps]

@summersara Thank you for the hint. I'm with R C-R here that a macro would be nice.

This is not enough information for me to follow your steps. :-/

[HVDB Photography]

Okay guys, I just recorded a macro.
Seems to run as expected.
I also attached the .afphoto file, so that you can see which actions (as @summersara indicated) have been taken.
May still need improvement ! Just give it a try.

Hubert
 

Cartoon effect.afphoto

Cartoon effect.afmacros

[Sara72]

3 hours ago, HVDB Photography said:

Hi @summersara

Great, thanks for the hint ..

 

Lovely effect Hubert and thanks for adding the Macro and file

I've not done a macro before but had a go, sorry if its not up to much:

 

Cartoon Sketch.afmacro

[R C-R]

@HVDB Photography & @summersara Thanks very much for posting your macros! 

It is interesting to see how these two approaches differ, like reducing gamma in a Levels adjustment vs. a Black & White adjustment for the B/W copy, naming or not naming the layers, etc.

FWIW, I like that in the 14 step version step 1 is to unlock the layer, since the default is to lock the "(Background)" layer. I also like that in the 29 step version the original layer is untouched & names are assigned to the two layers creating the effects.

I think the 'move inside' steps in the summersara version could be eliminated by taking advantage of a little known macro feature, that being that macros record the assistant settings for adding adjustment & filter layers when the macro is created, so setting that to "Add adjustment as child layer" (& if a live filter is used "Add filter as child layer") prior to creating the macro would automatically apply the move inside steps. I assume in HVDB's version that was in effect when the macro was recorded, explaining why that macro lacks 'move inside' steps.

Since adjustments & live filters are non-destructive & are accessible in the Layers panel, both versions provide for post-macro tweaks, which I found useful for controlling the strength, softness, etc. of the effect for different photos. Very cool! 

[Sara72]

Thanks for feedback and tips @R C-R

Yep i was wondering what to do with the adjustments layers, as i'm used to just dragging them down onto the parent layer, will need to have a bit more practice with macros but it was fun challenge

[R C-R]

For me, the fun part of constructing Photo macros that actually do what I want is figuring out how to work around the many limitations of the current implementation. It is also the most frustrating part. 

That is partially because there are no workarounds for many of those limitations & partially because there is almost no support for editing macros once they have been created. For example, even something as simple as exposing a parameter in a step that has a gear icon or changing its initial value(s) requires saving the macro as a new one. It would be a lot less frustrating if we had a 'replace' or 'save changes' button in the Macro panel.

[Steps]

11 hours ago, R C-R said:

That is partially because there are no workarounds for many of those limitations & partially because there is almost no support for editing macros once they have been created. For example, even something as simple as exposing a parameter in a step that has a gear icon or changing its initial value(s) requires saving the macro as a new one. It would be a lot less frustrating if we had a 'replace' or 'save changes' button in the Macro panel.

Very true words. That's why I gave up on my macro on the other thread.

One mistake and you have to start over. After three times messing it up (and not knowing that "add to sublayer" trick) I had enough.

[Steps]

On 9/26/2019 at 3:45 PM, summersara said:

You can get a similar effect by using the Bilateral blur on a colour copy of the image and increasing the Luminosity and reducing the Saturation, i then gave the B/W copy with the line drawing effect (from detect edges and invert) an overlay blend mode:

@summersara & @HVDB Photography Thank you for the macros.

I don't think the effect is similar or even close to what I'm looking for I learned something:

Bilateral blur works better than (every bodys default) gaussian blur as it creates other articats that can be eliminated nicely by the gamma change. This reduces the colors a lot better than posterize does IMHO.

But I still miss something that adds depth trough lighting back into the picture.

Compare the eyes and hair in this picture with my first post.

How can I introduce that back on the remaining edges (after this color uniformation)?

 

[Sara72]

Hi,

Try adding the Diffuse Glow filter, you can get some lovely light effects with it and the Dust and Scratches filter is another one that can soften a photo to have a more cartoon look.